Steve Thomson in this week’s AppBeat episode talks about online brand conversations, and the reasons people interact and have those conversations online. Steve talks around social signalling and how online allows even the most conservative individuals to “show off” when they have done something important or exciting.

Whereas many clients I speak to expect that by putting a “share” button next to everything possible your customer will start online conversations about your brand, an approach which is definitely unrealistic. Steve’s comment begs the question, how can I create an online / mobile experience for my audience worth sharing?

We look at four approaches:

1. Deliver Social Status

Particularly relevant for those seeking identity (such as a younger audience), and those aspiring to be accepted by others as greater than they are (ideal if your product is similarly aligned or an aspirational product), deliver an experience they can share that creates the impression of:

• Money
• Friends
• Popularity
• A social life
• Special / exclusivity

2. Deliver a Competitive Environment

For the competitive audience, which covers a variety of demographics, create en environment whereby the user can aspire to be:

• Smarter
• More Skilled
• Better

than others, and are able to demonstrate this to their social network, both for purposes of showing off, but more so for others to challenge their newly acquired status, and ideally propagating your brand experience, A well constructed proposition will generate repeat engagements as users return to retain their title.

3. Give Pioneers / Educators / Subject Matter Experts News or an Audience

A third group of people, those that consider themselves experts in their fields, be it music, sports team, beauty products, their profession, the latest mobile apps, or otherwise, are looking for content to distribute to their network (to reaffirm their position of leader), and also for a like-minded audience. If engaged correctly, these people will become a powerful sales force for your product / brand.

Create an environment for these people to congregate, share their knowledge / experience / expertise, learn and ultimately distribute newly learned content to their respective social networks. This will fulfil the groups need to both learn & discover and their need to be recognised for their superior knowledge.

4. An Environment to Voice a Strong Opinion

A fourth group of people have a very strong personality or opinion, and will engage when they are given an audience to express their point of view. Strong opinions create excellent content for sharing when the sharer holds either a similar or directly opposite view.

If your brand / product is topical, edgy or confrontational, or you know your audience is, consider giving them an online / mobile forum that showcases the various views held, and allows the user to engage one or more of these views, propagating your brand as they seek to create advocates from their social network for the view they hold.

While your audience may not fit with one of these four groups, the lesson is: understand your audience, draw out an experience worth sharing, and provide a platform that simplifies propagating it.

Word-of-mouth is considered by many marketers to be the “holy grail” of their craft.  Organic brand chatter amongst peers and opinion leaders comes with a seal of approval that is hard to generate any other way.

But before you get chatting, it is important to know the differences between what they say in the on verus offline worlds.

This week, Steve Thomson of WOM specialist agency the Keller Fay Group shares about the interplay of off and online brand communications and warns agains putting all your eggs in the social media basket.

Check out F-Secure who provide an amusing example of linking offline word of mouth to their mobile strategy.

F-secure: Smarter than john http://1000heads.com/portfolio/smarter-than-john/

Ed Keller and Brad Fay, colleagues of Steve Thomson at Keller Fay Group has written a book “the Face-to-Face Book: Why Real Relationships Rule in a Digital Marketplace” which uses examples and case studies to highlight the importance of ‘social’ in social media.  The authors dispute that a move towards social networking should not replace word-of-mouth. They suggest the objectives of marketing should be focused on producing conversations and interactions as the real-life conversations and interactions of consumers have the most dramatic economic impact.

According to Paul Berney, CMO and MD of the Mobile Marketing Association EMEA Region, this is the central question in integrating a mobile first approach to your marketing strategy in a world of digital natives and digital immigrants.

Watch this week’s AppBeat for pointers on how to make the most of the one-to-one marketing opportunities a “mobile first” approach delivers to your company in this week’s AppBeat. Don’t miss out!

Google, one of the most successful businesses in the world and arguably the company with the strongest insight in technology futurology, famously announced it was taking a “mobile first” strategy in Feb 2010 across its product set. Each passing week we see this approach justified as mobile enjoys exponential growth, disrupting major industries across online and even real-world consumer interaction.

The head start Google has achieved is huge – with a strong mobile offering, it even developed its own OS (Android) to de-risk it getting closed out of proprietary platforms (such as Apple who are currently de-Googling iOS). Companies refusing to remodel their business around consumer smart-phone interaction risk finding themselves increasingly irrelevant to consumers, needing to reinvent themselves at great expense in terms of capital, share value, and consumer base.

This is not just scare mongering, each week on AppBeat we hear from industry experts how you can no longer afford to ignore the mobile channel. This week on Paul Berney discusses how to take a mobile first approach:

Consider Your Consumers & How They Are Interacting Over Mobile

Consumers are already using mobile, with increasing expectation to be able to connect and find, connect and know, and connect and buy. This expectation will vary based on whether they’ve grown up with digital (younger audience) or migrated to digital. It will also be impacted by affluence, lifestyle, and a number of other factors.

The point is, in the near future if not already, your consumer is first going to engage via their mobile phone to try to solve a need that your business fulfills.  When this happens, you want your consumer to find you at the top of the heap.

What’s Your Business Problem

Your mobile strategy should be built around your core business proposition, not simply a gimmick campaign to engage consumers (although these do have some value).

For example Barclays Bank releasing “Roller Coaster Extreme” and achieving 20million+ downloads is a great campaign, however in itself, it does not equate to a mobile first strategy for its business.

Consumer Insight to Help Fix The Problem

Each business problem or proposition will have its own unique mobile-based variation.  Before embarking on your mobile strategy, understand from your consumers what they expect and would like from your business over mobile.

Visibility with your consumers is great as a first step.  But, over time, your consumers will opt for the business that allows them to fulfill their need with as little friction as possible (ideally on the spot).

Think About Mobile as every Other Channel

Mobile is a great tool for acquisition, retention and brand building and should fit within your overall marketing strategy. Compared to your other channels however, mobile is timelier, more contextual and has greater ability to provide a personalised one-to-one experience. Therefore, while it requires a more sophisticated approach, it must still be considered as a piece within a whole, and should not be isolated from your other initiatives.